Free Yeasayer Download!

Yeasayer will reemerge with "Ambling Alp," the first single off their sophomore record Odd Blood (due February 2010 on Secretly Canadian). This will be the first recording since Yeasayer's contribution of "Tightrope" to the Dark Was The Night benefit compilation and their critically acclaimed debut LP All Hour Cymbals (Nov. 2007). The single will be released digitally and on a limited 12" vinyl packaged in a space age colored metallic sleeve that will also feature remixes by Memory Tapes and DJ /rupture.

Recorded & produced by Yeasayer - with engineer Steve Revitte and mixed by Britt Myers - it's immediately clear with "Ambling Alp" that the band have advanced drastically in their songwriting and studio abilities. With "Ambling Alp" they've crafted nothing short of a pop anthem.

A stand out from their recent live sets at Pitchfork Festival, Bonnaroo and supporting Bat For Lashes, Yeasayer will play "Ambling Alp" among other new tracks from ODD BLOOD on there upcoming set at Fun Fun Fun Fest as well as a small handful of north east dates before going underground until the albums release in 2010.

If you can't wait until November 3rd to get your copy, download "Ambling Alp" for FREE at www.yeasayer.net on October 30th.

Warpaint & Migu CMJ at Le Poison Rouge

Tokyo's Experimental Mi-Gu (yuko araki) took the stage with guest Sean Lennon. Sean was on bass duties while rocking out with guitarist Shimmy and drummer singer front woman Yuko Araki. On the website it's listed as Yuko Araki playing with other musicians as Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band.
Next was our first time seeing Warpaint on the east coast. We saw them in Los Angeles last summer. The girls and their guy drummer took the stage and displayed their skills opening with an instrumental. They busted into some hits off their rereleased EP Exquisite Corpse, playing "Stars," "Elephants," "Beetles," and the new track off the rerelease entitled "Krimson." Unfortunately, they didn't play my favorite tune of theirs, "Billie Holiday." They had a new drummer this time around but bassist Theresa Wayman was able to lock in with him to provide the rhythm while her bandmates either took turns singing and playing guitar or sung together in harmony. Emily Kokal hung on stage right with her hair in her face busting out some intricate guitar work and Jenny Lee Lindberg was stage left singing and rocking her guitar, bantering with crowd. She even invited a group of Pandas on stage to dance with the band.

The Sky Report's Amazing Unofficial CMJ Party

This year I decided not to do full-on CMJ. I usually end up being pretty exhausted by the third or fourth day, so this year I decided to pick a few shows I wanted to attend instead of the five to ten a day I would cover in the past.

The first of these shows was Scot Bowman of The Sky Report's Unofficial CMJ Party. I've been to many a CMJ show—usually the ones with all the buzz bands or bands I love and am excited to see live again. This eclectic show was off the beaten path – off the L-Train Jefferson stop in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Once you walk in the extremely beautiful venue Tandem—a one story building on a residential street which is easy to miss—you are teleported back in time.

I showed up a bit late in the evening, stepped into the back room and caught the one-woman eletronica act Shadowbox. Shadowbox is Brooklyn's lovely Bonnie Baxter who, at the time I walked in, was crawling on the floor armed with a musical box and keyboard on a sheet music stand, and a mic hooked up to delay and reverb pedals which she manipulated her voice with. She created very strong ambient dance tunes and even had a beautiful ballad. By the end, she’d won the crowd over and received an encore.


Next up was a three-piece Brooklyn band called Fan-Tan. The band instantly seduced the crowd with the swaying-in-a-pond hypnotic songs. The band’s singer, Ryan Lee Dunlap, had an unusual-but-nice voice, and played some very lush and dreamy guitar. The bassist, Sandee Kooks, kept Mike Walters’ unique and sporadic beats in time with her sticky grooves. Definitely check out their EP, Bars in Window, and their 7-inch record, On Your Wall/No Complaint.

I also caught a bit of MeKaniKdolls set. The band is made up of two ladies with a Kaoss Pad, keyboards, a tiny amp and lot's of knob twisty toys. One gal sang into a mic with tons of effects, while the other created music that sounded like a cross between Defender the video game and a speech synthesizer Speak & Spell. Added percussion spiced up the mix, and at one point one of the girls even came out into the audience with a tiny amp strapped to her waist and began handing out flyers.

All in all it was a great night full of nice people and great music. The only downside was that the Jefferson subway was not running on my way back home. Maybe it was a sign to have stayed at the show longer.

Marissa Nadler & Alela Diane on Tour

If you haven't fallen in love with Marissa Nadler's beautiful voice and folk songs yet, where have you been? She's touring again for her fourth LP, entitled Little Hells, in which Nadler was backed by a full band as she expanded her sound into more ambient folk/indie rock. Nevada's folkster Alela Diane co-headlines the bill in support of her new EP Alela & Alina, on which she was joined by Alina Hardin. Be sure to catch one of these not-to-be-missed shows as the girls (and a boy) gently dash around the US.


October 22nd - Doug Fir Lounge- Portland, Oregon w/ Alela Diane
October 23rd - Media Club - Vancouver BC, Canada -
October 24th- Sunset Tavern - Seattle, WA. w/ Alela Diane
October 27th - Rickshaw Stop - San Fransisco, CA. - w/ Alela Diane
October 29th- Echo- Los Angeles, CA. w/ Alela Diane
October 30th- The Loft - UC San Diego - w/ Alela Diane
November 1st - Rhythm Room- Phoenix, Arizona - w/ Alela Diane
November 3rd - Cactus Cafe- Austin, Texas
November 4th- The Fort Worth Modern Museum- Fort Worth, Texas - w/ Alela Diane
November 5th- Chelseas- Baton Rouge, LA - w/ Alela Diane
November 6th- Bottletree- Birmingham, AL. - w/ Alela Diane
November 7th- The Earl - Atlanta, Georgia - w/ Alela Diane
November 9th- Arts Center- Carrboro, North Carolina - w/ Alela Diane
November 10th - DC9 - Washington, DC - w/ Alela Diane
November 11th- World Cafe- Philadelphia, PA - w/ Alela Diane
November 13th- Le Poisson Rouge - NY, NY - w/ Alela Diane
November 14th - Union Hall, Brooklyn, NY - w/ Alela Diane
November 15th- La Sala Rossa - Montreal, Quebec - w/ Alela Diane
November 16th- Legendary Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto, Ontario
November 17th- Schubas Tavern - Chicago, IL. - w/ Alela Diane
November 18th- 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, MN- w/ Alela Diane
November 20th- Hi Dive - Denver, Colorado - w/ Alela Diane
November 21st- Kilby Court - Salt Lake City, Utah - w. Alela Diane

Warpaint NYC Dates

L.A.'s finest export Warpaint has a string of shows in NYC this week for CMJ, starting with tonight at Mercury Lounge.

10.20 Mercury Lounge (6:30PM)
10.21 Cakeshop @ Terrorbird/'Sup Day Party (3:30PM)
10.21 K&M Bar - Brooklyn (private FADER event - 8:15PM) - must RSVP, free beer
10.22 Le Poisson Rouge (10:00PM)
10.22 Cameo Gallery - Brooklyn @ Manimal/Tightrope (1:00AM)

Psych Furs, Happy Mondays & Islands Roseland Ballroom

The Psychedelic Furs hadn't lost a beat since the last time I saw them live in the nineties. Richard Butler moved around like he was a spry twenty something with his pantomime stage presence. The band tightly spun out the classics like "President Gas," "Heartbreak Beat," "Love My Way," "Ghost In You," "Sister Europe," "Heaven" as well as their song director John Hugh's made a classic "Pretty in Pink."


The Happy Mondays, I couldn't decide if I should love them or throw rocks at them for bankrupting Factory Records. Shaun Ryder and crew got the Manchester (Madchester) grooves going and made you consider looking for sweaty people and buying an e-tab to really try and recreate the experience. Shaun was quite a bit larger in size and didn't quite have the stage presence and dance steps he one had. The new Monday line-up had a very timid and nervous Ryder standing completely still, and absence of his brother Paul and Bez. The Mondays only came to life with their front woman (name to come) who pranced around the stage commanding the songs and the audience. I have been to over a thousand shows in my life time but never had a show been so loud I needed earplugs (haven't seen My Bloody Valentine). My ears are still ringing.

Islands and crew got shafted pretty hard at the Roseland show on this tour. Their website and tickets to the show said teir set was at 8pm. Unfortunately they went on at 7:30pm and were off the stage at 8pm. Nick came onto the stage saying "Is this a High School Dance" to the empty Ballroom. There set was a little sluggish compared to the many show Nick and crew dominated a venue with great confidence and showmanship. The finally busted into the energetic "Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone," off their debut LP, which got the crowd going. Queens rapper Ses 5(?) came joined the band on stage and drove the song home. They ended their short set with "Vapours" off their new LP also entitled Vapours. My gal was outside and people were hanging out front of the theatre saying they were excited to see Islands while missing their set. A few people who were in attendance got a lite-taste of the Islands greatness and a few people came up to me and asked who they were. A few new fans ain't a bad thing. I love you guys and it's nice that Jamie's back on the kit but let me just state again how much the Chow brothers are missed form the stage.

Free MP3 by Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck

Visit here for a free download off Charlotte Gainsbourg new album, entitled IRM (French for MRI) Beck produced and wrote the music and even sings on an upcoming track off the LP. Charlotte is the daughter of legendary French singer-songwriter French singer-songwriter, Serge Gainsbourg.

Islands join Psychedelic Furs Happy Mondays

Islands will join The Psychedelic Furs, Happy Mondays at New York at Roseland Ballroom for an highly eclectic evening. The John Hughes pop tunes of the Psych Furs mixed with the drug induced songs of Shaun Ryder and crew who ended the legendary Factory Records and Montreal's Nicholas Thorburn, Jamie Thompson and crew's pop gems. Islands will be playing tunes off their new LP entitled "Vapors."

Islands play with Furs and Mondays at:
10-07 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
10-09 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom
10-10 Cambridge, MA - House of Blues
10-12 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
10-13 Pontiac, MI - Clutch Cargo's

Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star) Tour, New LP

Hope Sandoval is now working with Colm Ó Cíosóig (My Bloody Valentine's drummer) under the name Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions. September 29th marked the release date of their second LP together entitled Through The Devil Softly. Catch them on tour at:

Check out "Blanchard" (MP3) from the new LP.

Oct 7 - Toronto The Mod Club
Oct 8 - Montreal Le National
Oct 10 - Brooklyn The Music Hall Of Williamsburg
Oct 12 - New York The Bowery Ballroom
Oct 13 - Philadelphia First Unitarian Church
Oct 14 - Washington Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
Oct 16 - Atlanta The Loft
Oct 18 - Austin Texas Union Theater
Oct 19 - Dallas Sons of Hermann Hall
Oct 22 - Los Angeles The Mayan Theatre

The Sky Report's Pre-CMJ Show

This is a great way to kick-off of the CMJ Music Marathon. Celebrate Bushwick style on Wednesday, October 21st with a pre-party at Tandem Bar. For more info please visit here.